Casket-lowering apparatus



No. 609,586. Patented Aug. 23, I898. W. H. LESTER &.G. E. SMART.

CASKET LOWERING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Jan. 10, 1898.)

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No. 609,586. Pa tented Aug. 23, I898. w. H. LESTER & a. E. SMART. GASKET LOWERING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Jan. 10, 1898.)

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Nrrnn STATES PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM H. LESTER, OF WETHERSFIELD, AND GEORGE E. SMART, OF HART= FORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO THE CASKET LOWERING COMPANY,

OF CONNECTICUT.

CASKET-LOWERING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 609,586, dated August 23, 1898.

v Application filed January 10, 1898. Serial No. 666,140. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WVILLIAM H. LESTER, residing at Wethersfield, and GEORGE E. SMART, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casket-Lowering Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to raising and lowering devices, and has especial reference to that class of apparatus which is employed at interments for lowering the casket into the grave or vault.

The object of the inventionis to provide a simple, light, and unobtrusive apparatus which will not be liable to get out of order and by means of which the lowering of the casket can be effected at a speed at all times within the control of a single operator and of such construction and arrangement that the several suspending ropes, bands, or cables leading to and supporting the casket cannot possibly foul each other or become inoperative for any other reason, but will travel freely at equal speeds, thereby maintaining the casket in a level position at all times.'

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan view of our improved apparatus with the cover of 0 the casing removed and showing the parts in the position occupied by them when the easket is at its lowest position. Fig. 2 is a front View of the apparatus of Fig. 1 in section, taken on the line 2 2 of the latter figure.

3 5 Figs. 3 to 9, inclusive, ofSheet 2 are detail views in a scale enlarged from that of Sheet 1. Fig. 3 is an end View in section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, showing the arrangement of the guide-pulleys for the rope or cable leading to the lower side of the carrier-chain. Fig. 4 is a View of the section of the machine shown in Fig. 3, being projected therefrom. Fig. 5 is an end view in section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, showing the angle of the 5 idlers which guide the rope or cable leading to the upper side of the chain-carrier. Fig.

6 is a side View projected from the left-hand side of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a plan view, and Fig. 8 a side View projected therefrom, of a modified application of our invention, showing it adapted to employ a rope or wire-cable carrier in place of the chain-carrier shown in the previous figures. Fig. 9 is an end view in section taken on the line 9 9, showing a modified construction of the idlers at the cor- 5 5 ners of the apparatus.

In order that the import and significance of this invention may be understood, we will preface its description by a statement of the difficulties encountered with most forms of apparatus previously known and I used for this purpose,particularly the apparatus which employs cables and winding-drums therefor. The coils of these cables, particularly in the case of wire cables, are liable to become set in the form in which they are wound upon the drums, so that the several suspendingropes do not render freely and equally therefrom in unwinding under the moderate tension of the suspended weight, which is divided between the several cables and which is the only force operating to keep the cables taut and to unwind them safely and freely from their respective drums. In all such apparatus known to us the cables are worked positively only in the direction in which they are rewound after use, which is the direction in which positiveness of movement is of least importance. These objections are overcome in the apparatus of our present invention by dispensing altogether with the use of drum-wound cables. \Ve employ therein an endless carrier with means for driving that carrier positively in either direction and to any desired extent, attaching to that carrier the suspending-cables for the casket, of a length properly proportioned to the desired extent of lowering movement.

The carrier referred to consists, in our preferred embodiment, of a linked chain, which in thedrawings is designated by the numeral 10. This carrier or chain is endless and passes around idlers 11, 12, 13, and 14, located at the corners of the apparatus. The chain also passes over the driving sprocket- 5 wheel 15, which is located at that end of the apparatus at which the operator stands. The sprocket may be driven by any wellknown means; but our preferred means herein shown consists of a worm-wheel 16, fixed to or integral with the sprocket and turning upon a stud 17, fixed to the housing 17, a worm 18, and the bevel-gears 19 and 20, the latter of which is provided with a spindle 21, which extends through the easing into any location convenient for use and is fitted to receive the crank 22, by means of which the apparatus is operated.

The casket or other weight to be lowered (represented on the drawings by the dot-anddash outline C) is placed upon the ropes or hands 23, 24, 25, and 26, which are arranged in pairs, united'by thedetachable clasps 27 28. These clasps herein shown are similar to those shown in United States Patent No. 528,699, dated November 6, 1894, although it will be understood that any suitable connecting means which may readily be disconnected at the conclusion of the lowering operation will serve this purpose.

The suspending ropes or cables 23, 24, 2.5, and 26 pass over the vertical idlers 29, 30,

31, and 32 and over the inclined idlers 33,

34, 35, and 36 and are joined to the endless chain or carrier 10 by means of clips 37 and 38 (shown in Fig. 4) or in any other suitable way. The ropes 23 and are herein shown to be attached at opposite sides of the same portion of the chain; but it is obvious that these clips may be distributed along the chain at any desired or convenient locations.

In order that the ropes 23, 24, 25, and 26 may pass with the chain around the idlers 11, 12, 13, and 14, the latter are extended 7 above and below the plane of the carrier 10,

as best shown in Fig. 2, so as to provide supporting-surfaces for the respective ropes. Therefore in winding up the apparatus as the chains move in the direction of the arrow a (shown in Fig.1) the ropes attached thereto will pass over and be supported by the corresponding portions of the idlers 11 12 13 14, located at thecorners of the frame. Those idlers may be made sufficiently wide to accommodate several turns of the rope, and in that case the carrier may be moved entirely around the frame a corresponding number of times, thereby providing for any desired depth of fall. It will be observed that these ropes at no time encircle more than onefourth the circumference of any pulley or drum. Therefore no coils are formed, with their attendant liability of becoming set and of fouling each other in lowering, as would be the case with devices'which employ winding-drums for the ropes.

In the modifications shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the chain or linked carrier 10 is shown to be replaced by a corresponding endless wire cable 10, to which the ropes 23 and 25 are attached by splicing or by clamps in any convenient manner. The carrier 10 is placed once around the driving -drum 15, which thereby serves the purpose of the sprocket 15 of the previous figures, that drum and its driving worm-wheel 16 being substituted for the sprocket and Worm-wheel shown in the previous figures. This drum should be made of a sufficient width toaccommodate the number of turns of rope which must be wound upon it to secure the desired amount of fall. This modification is not recommended where the amount of fall requires that the carrier shall be moved more than once around the frame, and,indeed, for allpurposes we greatly prefer the construction and arrangement of the driving devices shown in the early figures of the drawings.

In Fig. 9 is shown a modification of the idlers for guiding the suspending-ropes, which is preferable to that shown in the previous figures for all purposes where the amount of fall requires the carrier to make the circuit of the frame more than once. The surfaces of the idlers 12 for the ropes are plane or cylindrical instead of being grooved and may be smaller in diameter than their respective idler-sprockets. In the latter case the idlers should be separated from and free to rotate independently of those sprockets on account of the difference in their required rotative speeds.

In the drawings the relative thickness of the suspending-ropes is somewhat exaggerated in order to show them plainly. They should in practice be adapted in size, material, and strength to the particular strains they are to bear. These may also be arranged in any desired number of pairs, and it is possible that even a single pair may be so disposed as to work satisfactorily if suitable provision is made for balancing or sustaining the suspended casket in a horizontal position. We therefore limit ourselves to no particular number of suspending pairs of ropes nor to the precise arrangement of idlers whereby the depending portions thereof are guided in oppositely-disposed or paired relation.

WVe claim as our invention 1.1 In'combination with a casket-lowering apparatus, an endless traveling carrier, casket-suspending ropes attached thereto, with means for guiding the depending portions of the suspending-ropes in paired relation, so as to cooperate in the lowering operation.

2. A casket-lowering device comprising a framing for the grave-opening, an endless traveling carrier, means for supporting the carrier around the circuit of the framing, oppositely-disposed casket-suspending ropes attached to the carrier and means for guiding and supporting the suspending-ropes in a parallel' relation to the carrier as they are drawn thereby into the framing and around the corners thereof.

3. In combination with a casket-lowering apparatus, an endless traveling carrier, oppositely-disposed casket-suspending ropes attached thereto in pairs, with means for guiding the depending portions of each pair in cooperative relation to each other,'and for guiding and supporting those portions of the suspending-ropes which are within the framing in a parallel relation to the carrier as they are drawn thereby around the corners of the frame.

4;. In combination with a casket-lowering apparatus, a traveling carrier consisting of an endless linked chain,with oppositely-disposed casket-suspending ropes attached thereto in pairs, a toothed driving-sprocket for the chain, and sprocket-idlers for supporting the linked chain to enable it to travel in a circuit around the apparatus.

5. In combination With a casket-lowering apparatus,an endless linked carrier, arranged in a horizontal plane,with oppositely-disposed casket-suspending ropes attached thereto in pairs, a toothed sprocket-Wheel for driving the carrier, and driving means therefor consistin g of a vertical crank-shaft,beveled gears,

a Worm, and a Worm-wheel, substantially as described.

6. In a casket-lowering apparatus, the combination of a framing for the grave-opening, an endless carrier arranged to travel in a horizontal plane around the circuit of the framing, with oppositely-disposed casket-sus- V W. H. LESTER. GEO. E. SMART.

Witnesses:

W. H. Homss, F. H. WHIPPLE. 

